Over the weekend, the Rays made their first large round of cuts, sending several top prospects to minor league camp with their games set to begin on Wednesday. Among the group to be reassigned were Willy Adames, Jake Bauers, and Christian Arroyo, three of the team’s top position player prospects.

“The underlying message is we think really highly of that group, and we’re going to do everything we can to get them playing,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “There’s still some boxes that they can check in Triple A. We know they’re very talented and they’re going to help us here real soon.”

The Rays also optioned Hunter Wood, Justin Williams, Diego Castillo, Jose Mujica, and Jaime Schultz, while reassigning Ryan Weber, Joe McCarthy, and Brett Sullivan. They have released Dan Runzler.

Neil Solondz has a list of who is left in the Rays major league camp.

As for the game action, the Rays dropped their Sunday afternoon game to the Minnesota Twins as Jake Faria rough start to the spring continues.

After a scoreless first inning, the Twins batted around against him in the 2nd. They tallied six hits during the inning, although three of them never left the infield. Regardless, Faria knows he has to do better.

Alex Colome dominated during his easy inning of work, racking up two strikeouts, and has now declared himself ready for Opening Day

Rays Links

• Matt Duffy spent a day at qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg
• Mallex Smith and Blake Snell have a lot of downtime during games they’re not participating in, so they tried their hand at being the team’s photographers...they’re are that bad
• To add to that, Blake Snell also found some time to mimic the team’s new sideline reporter during her first broadcast with the team
• The Rays have a lot of salary coming off the books following the 2018 season and with an impressive free agent class approaching, are they preparing to make a splash?
• Whoever is behind the plate for the Rays this season, will be armed with more detailed info as the Rays plan to give them cards to wear under their forearm sleeves
• Rays Opening Day roster hopefuls are trading in their infield mitts for outfielder’s gloves as they are doing everything then can to better themselves
• The Process Report took an in-depth look as the Rays aspirations to employ a 4-man rotation

Around the League

• Mike Fiers is brandishing an impressive mustache, reviews are mixed on whether or not it looks good
• Itchiro is back with the Seattle Mariners and he made his spring debut over the weekend
• The Minnesota Twins signed Lance Lynn to a one year deal for $12M, showing how weak the market is for starting pitchers. Alex Cobb is still a free agent by the way.
• The last of the top tier free agents have signed, with Jake Arrieta finally landing a three year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.
• If you enjoy hearing about former star Rays, Scott Kazmir is slated to be a member of the Atlanta Braves starting rotation